


Little Gremlin

by scrawly_times



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons), Trollhunters - Daniel Kraus & Guillermo del Toro
Genre: De-Aged Draal, Draal is turned into a whelp and chaos ensues, Gatto's Keep Shenanigans, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, aka the Demon Childe AU, but they're not super relevant, that should be a common tag i'm using that tag, there's a few background ships as well
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:28:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22762471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrawly_times/pseuds/scrawly_times
Summary: Draal goes with the Trollhunters into Gatto's Keep that first time. He's eaten alongside Toby and Blinky. He gets hit by some mysterious magic as well.But unlike Blinky, Draal is significantly... smaller, now.And thus the trolls remember the most troublesome, hellraising whelp to ever come out of Trollmarket and the humans get some education on troll childhoods.
Comments: 33
Kudos: 84





	1. Hello My Baby Hello My Darlin-

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!!!! Some of you may be here because I was impatient and posted art to tumblr before even posting this fic. If not, go check out a buncha cute whelp Draal drawings @weregreatatcrime on tumblr! 
> 
> Some notes:  
> English will be written normally and Trollish written in italics. Draal's a bab, he understands a FEW words in English but generally isn't really able to understand it. 
> 
> Draal doesn't remember being an adult but has a few associations that may pop up 
> 
> I just LOVE writing from a young character's point of view because they're so blunt and oblivious yet also TERRIFYINGLY aware of their surroundings at the same time. If it seems a bit simplified, it's bcz it's from Draal's pov

Draal opened his eyes with a snort. His head felt... funny and heavy. He was _really_ tired and felt like he wanted to sleep _forever._

He was also covered in some sort of leathers that smelled like him, but also not? But Draal didn't care much beyond snuffling it as he moved it out of the way. It was weird trying to wiggle out for some reason. Like… something wasn’t right. He felt unsteady and uneven. 

Draal finally popped his head out of the folded leather and saw a great cavern around him with lava _everywhere._

 _"Woah."_ He churred in excitement and sniffed the air. 

It was _hot_ here, nice and toasty. Draal didn't know why he was here or why he was covered in someone’s- oh! It was a kilt! He sniffed it curiously, looking at the belt and designs. It almost looked like his father's but it only smelled like that weird kind-of-Draal. And some other weird scents but they were very faint and Draal didn't care about figuring them out. 

Right now he just wanted to explore the cool lava cavern! It looked like there was treasure all around him in great piles and cool gems on every wall! His arms and legs were itching to go and he was filled with _so much_ energy even though he still felt really tired. 

Draal yawned but leaned forward to clamber out of the kilt. 

One of his hands didn’t hit the ground and his face hit the warm rock as he stumbled. 

He yelped a bit in surprise but shook himself and sat up in confusion, tail tucking next to him. What happened? 

Draal tried to walk on all fours again and then he saw it. 

His arm was gone. 

"Draal!" 

He was suddenly very, very terrified and confused. Draal sniffled and tried to ignore the wail starting to creep its way out of his throat. He wasn't going to cry. He wasn't going to be a baby. He was going to be brave and not a little whelp who cried over everything. 

"Draal, where are you!" 

He could hear his name being yelled nearby. 

Draal didn't understand, his arm was just _gone._ There was a little stub somewhere along the top but there was just _nothing._ Where did his arm go? It didn't _hurt_ but he couldn't understand. His head hurt when he tried to remember what happened to it. 

"Draal if you can hear us answer, please! Deya’s grace, he only went around a corner! Where could he have gone?!" 

That voice sounded _familiar_ but Draal was too scared and confused. He wanted to curl up and howl until Father or Blinky or Aaarrrgghh or another adult showed up to make it better. Draal didn't want to be a baby but he was _scared and alone_ and his _arm was gone._

"Yeesh why does Gatto's stomach have so many tunnels?!" 

"One moment Tobias, I think I see something!" 

Draal curled up in a ball when he heard the voices getting closer. He was shaking and trying to keep himself from being a big baby. He didn’t want them to find him crying. 

"Is that his skirt?" 

"It's a kilt, Tobias." Was… was that Blinky? "Along with his prosthesis, for some reason…" He sounded worried. 

Draal uncurled a bit to get a look, scraping stone catching the attention of the two people standing nearby. 

"Hey, what's-" The voice faltered as a figure the same size as him walked over and Draal flinched back. 

A human? Draal had never met a human before. Father always said he wasn't supposed to be _seen_ by humans! With a yelp Draal curled up and rolled away, trying to navigate with his nose and ears while curling. It was harder than usual because he was wobbly and off-balance. 

"Great Gronka _Morka!"_

Draal's escape failed spectacularly as he ran into a heavy chest and slumped upside down against it. He winced and looked up nervously. 

_"...Blinky?"_ Draal whimpered and flopped over trying to get up. _"Blinky!!"_

"Draal?!" Both Blinky and the human yelped at the same time and Draal didn't care he was _scared and his arm was gone-_

He barreled into Blinky's legs with a loud whine. 

_"Blinky where'm I dunno how I got here-"_ Draal hiccuped and huddled against Blinky's legs. He was starting to cry even though he was trying very hard not to. 

"Ohhhh dear, oh dear oh dear oh dear-" Blinky reached down and picked Draal up carefully, barely able to wrap his arms around him but hugging him close. _"Draal, are you alright?"_

"Aw shoot, I barely know trollish." The human was muttering something but he didn't understand most of it. 

_"I jus' woke up an' I was here an' my ARM'S gone, Blinky!"_ Draal couldn't help a slight wail. He was _freaking out_ and here was an adult he trusted who was _also_ panicking. 

_"Shh, it's alright,"_ Blinky looked around worriedly like they were in trouble. Draal hadn’t noticed the rising lava just yet. _"I have no idea what happened, Draal, but we need to get out of here and back to Trollmarket, okay?"_

Draal buried his face into Blinky's shoulder with a nod, trying to stop shaking. He knew Blinky's smell and it helped, even if Blinky smelled kind of different he still smelled like _Blinky._

"What's wrong with him?" The human whispered nearby. 

"I don't think he remembers being an adult," Blinky muttered back. "He's understandably rather upset about the loss of his arm. Grab his belongings, please?" 

"I don't think I can carry his metal arm." The human sounded worried. "Oh hey! Here's his nose ring. I really hope there’s not troll snot on this." 

"Would you rather carry the whelp who's two minutes away from a hysterical tantrum?" Blinky winced and tried to pull Draal's claws out of his shoulder. "And has claws he doesn't know how to keep to himself yet?" 

"Point. But I don’t exactly have the greatest upper body strength, Blinky. And we've still gotta look for a way out of here! And the birthstone!" 

"That's very true but- ouch!" Blinky sounded like he was in pain when he jumped and Draal looked over his shoulder worriedly to see the lava getting higher. He whined worriedly. "It's fine, Tobias, just a small burn- _I'm alright, Draal, do you think you can walk on your two legs? We need to search for a way out of here and I don't think I can hold you while we do."_

Draal snuffled and sneezed but nodded. _"I can try…"_

Draal was old enough to walk on two legs, certainly, but he had trouble with it. His legs were smaller and he was so top heavy it was just easier to run around on all fours. Not many trolls cared if he did or didn't walk on two legs, it was hardly a requirement for trolls. But he couldn’t walk on all fours when he was missing an _arm._

Blinky carefully set Draal down and he clung to Blinky's side, holding onto one of his hands for balance. He wobbled unsteadily and used his tail to brace against the ground when he nearly fell backwards. 

"Tobias, we should retreat back to higher ground where we entered!" Blinky started running and almost dragged Draal along before he managed to catch his feet underneath him. Not that Draal was going to complain about it because he could _see_ the lava nearly at their feet and the limp in Blinky’s slow run. 

Draal let Blinky lead him and the human in a shambling run down the tunnel they’d come down. He was scared to realize the lava was getting _really_ fast. It kept rising higher and higher and they ran around trying to find a way out until the human started saying something. 

Blinky didn't seem to like it but he helped the human throw things into the lava. Draal didn't get it but he helped too, pushing things and throwing handfuls of treasure in where he could. 

He was standing closer to the human when a strange explosion of funny colored fire made them both yelp and jump. 

"Blinky!" 

_"Blinky!!"_ Draal ducked into a roll and slid to Blinky's side, sniffing him worriedly as he coughed. _"Blinky're you okay?!"_ He smelled weird, like something gross was all over him!

"Blinky! Are you okay?!" 

"I'm-" Blinky coughed and wheezed. "I'm okay, _I'm okay!"_ Draal drew back so sharply in surprise at the ridiculous high pitch of Blinky's voice that he toppled over backwards. 

"Oh my god that was adorable?" The human laughed anxiously. 

"It sounds like it's just helium based- _no need to worry Draal, I'm-"_ Blinky coughed and his voice was normal again. "Oh dear. Good thing _that_ wasn't permanent." Then Blinky stared at Draal with sudden realization. _"Young Draal, did you perhaps see some potion or- or glowing object nearby you when you woke up?"_ He motioned around with his hands frantically. 

_"No? Um- I didn’ notice anything?"_ Draal tilted his head. _"Why?"_

 _"I fear you may have been exposed to some form of magic that- Tobias_ _what are you-"_ Blinky cleared his throat and swapped back to English. "Tobias? What is it?" 

"I think… I found it." The human was digging through a pile of treasure and picked something up carefully. Draal shuffled over and sniffed it carefully. It was a glowing crystal that sat weirdly in the human's tiny hands. It made Draal’s skin crawl. 

The human and Blinky sounded excited as they talked to each other, way too fast in English for Draal to even think about keeping track. 

_"What is it?"_ Draal asked, sitting up carefully with his tail as balance. 

_"The reason we came here, little gremlin!"_ Blinky said excitedly, patting one of Draal's horns. _"Now let's make sure we can still make it_ **_out_ ** _after we've come so far!"_

Draal threw himself into helping them throw things into the lava, using every bit of energy he had trying to push heavy objects into the fire. 

It kept rising. Despite their efforts they were backed up against a single tunnel, lava at their feet. Draal growled with a whine and shook his head anxiously by Blinky's side. The human was huddled up against him and Draal didn't even mind. The human smelled _familiar_ for some reason anyways. 

_"It's going to be alright, Draal."_ Blinky patted him comfortingly but Draal knew better, he could smell Blinky was scared too. They were _surrounded._ He was _so terrified._

The human was babbling rapidly and patted Draal's shoulder, shoving him towards a floating rock on the lava. Draal scrambled to join them on the floating rock, claws scratching as he wobbled. He was so off balance from his arm he couldn’t stay standing! 

Blinky huddled over Draal to help him stay still, Drall belly down and clinging for his life as the rock shook and spun. Blinky's arms helped him feel less wobbly and the human even helped by crouching against him on his other side. Draal realized a bit too late that he was wailing very loudly but he couldn't stop. 

They were talking way way way too fast in English and Blinky reached over Draal to grab the bag the human had. They threw something else into the lava and it started to rise _even faster._

The lava suddenly started to drop and they began to fall. Draal _screamed._

"Hold onto Draal!" 

Draal didn't need to know too much English to know what that was as they both clutched him between them. He was grateful because whelp claws were not particularly good at clinging to rocks that were sliding all over the place. 

Then they were _all_ screaming as the lava spun and twisted them through tunnel after tunnel. 

And then they were in the air. 

They all fell and rolled together in a pile, Blinky stumbling as he tried to untangle them. "Go go go! Start it up! START IT UP!" 

"Wait, where's Draal?!" Another human was yelling. Why were there so many humans? 

"THIS _IS_ DRAAL!" Blinky yelled while he gave Draal a harsh shove. Draal tucked into a ball and rolled forwards as fast as he could, feeling lava right behind them. 

"WHAT?!" 

"EXPLANATIONS LATER! START UP THE GYRE!" 

Gyre! Draal knew that word! And they were talking about him too! 

Draal yelped as a big hand scooped him up and flung him into the air, but he recognized the smell of the fur he landed in and clung to it like a lifeline. 

_"Aaarrrgghh!"_ Draal buried his face into the green scruff and tried to pretend he wasn't shaking. 

He could feel Aaarrrgghh running and then he gave a mighty _heave,_ Draal only clinging tighter. 

"Hate gyre!" Aaarrrgghh whined and then jumped inside as the gyre startup noises surrounded them. 

Draal whimpered and didn't even look up, just glad to be somewhere he knew he was safe.


	2. Everyone Does a Concern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Repercussions begin. Many questions are had. Why Is Draal Baby? The World May Never Know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GLAD TO SEE EVERYONE ELSE IS ABSORBED IN HOW CUTE WHELP DRAAL IS TOO, CAN'T WAIT FOR Y'ALL TO REALIZE HOW DEMONIC OF A CHILDE HE IS
> 
> Recall! English is normal speech and Trollish is in italics! :) Draal can only kind of understand some English, and definitely not when people are talking fast 
> 
> EDIT: WELL SHIT I JUST MEANT TO GO BACK AND EDIT MY DRAFT OF THIS CHAPTER, DIDN'T MEAN TO POST IT, BUT I GUESS IT'S MIDNIGHT AND TECHNICALLY THE NEXT DAY SO HERE Y'ALL GO I GUESS LMAO

"What the heck!" Jim yelled as they stumbled off the gyre, Toby running off to hurl over by the wall. "What happened to Draal?!" He dismissed the armor as he stepped onto thankfully solid ground. 

"Shhh," Aaarrrgghh mumbled, walking slowly off the platform and showing them the blue ball that was clinging to his fur. "Asleep." The blue whelp was breathing slowly and had his entire face buried in Aaarrrgghh's scruff. Even in his sleep he was holding on tightly. 

“How’d he fall asleep on the _gyre?”_ Toby whined as he wiped his mouth and stood up shakily. 

"After all that excitement I imagine he's probably ten times more stressed than the rest of us right now." Blinky sighed and rubbed his face with several hands. “And magic tends to wipe out even grown trolls.”

Everyone departed from the gyre slowly but stayed in the chamber, unable to look away from Draal. Better to handle the weird situations in privacy before parading around Trollmarket. 

"So, um… why is Draal a baby?" Claire said slowly. 

"Whelp, is the troll term, Lady Claire." Blinky corrected distantly. 

"I dunno!" Toby threw his hands up then reconsidered when he nearly dropped the birthstone and fumbled with it. "We were in Gatto's stomach, splitting up trying to find the stone, and then he turns the corner and suddenly! Gone!" Toby passed the birthstone to Jim. "When we found him he was like this!" He waved a hand at the blue ball on Aaarrrgghh’s back. 

"I have my suspicions." Blinky nodded. "Unfortunately we were in too much of a hurry to grab his possessions, as he'd shrunk too small for them, and he was rather upset by the circumstances. A hysterical whelp is not something to be trifled with. Calming him down, finding the stone, and finding an exit were all higher priorities." 

"Well I grabbed his nose ring, but that's it." Toby pulled the ring out of his pocket and shrugged. 

"Suspicions?" Aaarrrgghh rumbled softly. Blinky started, lost in thought. 

"Yes! Yes, sorry. There were a great many magical artifacts and potions in Gatto's keep. It's likely he encountered some form of magic that transformed him into his younger self." Blinky said as he rubbed his chin. "I don't believe he remembers being grown either, he seemed to not understand English very well or even recognize Tobias." 

"And he's definitely _acting_ like a kid." Toby scratched at his face and winced sharply. Even just a small scratch had _burned_ and hurt a lot. 

"You okay, Tobes?" Jim looked at him closely for the first time. "Shoot! Dude you look like you got the sunburn from hell!" 

Toby blinked and looked at his lobster red hands. "I guess that's what happens when you run around inside a volcano. Heh, you guys look a little pink too." 

Claire pulled out her phone as he spoke and looked at her face in the camera with a groan. She did look a bit pink, almost like she'd gotten too much sun. 

"We should head back and get some water," Jim sounded worried. "Heat isn't something to joke about." 

"Hey wait, are _you_ alright Blink? Didn’t you get burnt at one point?" Toby said suddenly as he remembered. It had been a bit too hectic at the time to do more than make sure he wasn’t dying. 

"What?" Blinky shuffled awkwardly as Aaarrrgghh immediately started sniffing him. "Oh, I suppose I got a little too close to those pools while they were rising." He winced and lifted up his left foot. There was a darkened, crackling patch of stone on his heel that looked _painful._ "Lava doesn't do the same level of damage to trolls as it would humans, but it still certainly hurts. Truthfully the rush for survival made me forget all about it." He leaned against Aaarrrgghh with an exhausted groan. 

"Same here. I didn't even notice the burning while we were in there but I am _definitely_ feeling it now." Toby held his hands out with a grimace. Every movement _hurt_ and he felt stiff as a board. Even under his clothes! 

"I have sunburn cream at my house," Jim offered. “And probably some more serious burn cream, if you need it.” 

"Then it may be best to go seek it, along with whatever else you may need." Blinky shook his head. "You three do not look like you feel very well." Even with the redness all three children looked pale and tired. “I feel I may have overestimated the human body’s reaction to extreme heat.” Blinky poked Jim’s side and he actually swayed a bit before straightening out. 

"Probably just the adrenaline crash and a bit of heat exhaustion, but good idea." Jim sighed. He looked down at the birthstone in his hands tiredly. "Let's… we’ll handle _this_ later. We'll either come back sometime later tonight or tomorrow. Thank god it's Saturday." Jim shook his head while he put the birthstone in his bag. "Are you guys going to be okay, though?" He looked between Blinky's foot and Draal still breathing softly on Aaarrrgghh's back. 

"We'll go to Vendel immediately, do not worry." Blinky smiled fondly then winced. "I doubt he'll be very thrilled to see us, but perhaps he'll have some answers to Draal's predicament."

* * *

Draal woke up a little bit when Blinky clambered up next to him on Aaarrrgghh's back. Blinky covered him up for some reason, but he just snuggled deeper into green fur and went back to sleep. 

Then he _definitely_ woke up when he heard Vendel's familiar voice shouting at someone. 

"What in Deya's name happened?!" 

"It's a bit of a story, Vendel-" 

Draal yawned as they blabbered on in English and he tried to listen in. He thought they were talking about him? Maybe, it was hard to tell. And then something about Blinky being hurt but it wasn’t bad, he didn’t think.

 _"Alright, let me see the little terror."_ Vendel huffed and his head appeared over Aaarrrgghh's shoulder. At least now they were speaking Trollish. 

_"Vendel!"_ Draal sat up. _"You look diff'rent."_ He tilted his head. Like… there were more lines on his face than usual. And his fur looked lighter. 

_"Why I never..."_ Vendel had the _funniest_ look on his face but Draal didn't know why. _"Draal, what do you remember?"_ He reached over and picked up Draal cautiously like Draal was going to wriggle out of his arms. 

Draal actually considered it - he wasn't a baby to be picked up like a whelp! But he still felt kind of shaky and uneasy from earlier and honestly, he didn't mind being held right now. Draal sniffed Vendel curiously as he carried him to a stone table. Vendel smelled different but the same, just like Blinky and Aaarrrgghh. 

_"Remember what?"_

The adults all traded funny looks and then Blinky steepled his hands together in that way that meant he was nervous about something. 

_"Draal, do you recall that place we were in with the lava?"_

Draal winced and shrunk down a bit but nodded. That was… scary. He was a brave troll but he thought they were all going to _die._

 _"Do you recall anything_ **_before_ ** _that?"_ Blinky looked hopeful. 

Draal's face scrunched up and theirs all fell. 

They kept on asking him weird questions after that but he couldn't answer all of them. He didn't remember how he got in the lava cave and he didn't remember what he was doing before waking up there. He _did_ remember that he was fifty two years old, he knew who all of them were, where he lived, and lots of other stuff. That didn’t seem like what they wanted to hear though. 

Vendel poked him with lots of weird crystals and asked him even _more_ questions but none of them seemed to make the adults happy. 

_"What's WRONG?!"_ Draal growled, getting frustrated with all the adults acting weird. All these weird questions were making his _head_ hurt for some reason. 

_"Draal…"_ Blinky said, trading weird looks with the other adults _again. "There's no easy way to say this-"_ He swapped to English worriedly. "Should we even tell him? Current… _events_ have already stressed him enough, I don't believe it would be terribly kind to put him through the confusion-" Vendel bopped Blinky on the head with his staff, causing Draal to laugh loudly. 

"I assure you Blinkous, that any child with an _ounce_ of curiosity will suss out even the most _minor_ of secrets if they so wish. And I'm certain you recall how… _energetic_ Draal was - is, I suppose, as a whelp. He’d be all over even the _slightest_ hint of a secret."

“Should know very well.” Aaarrrgghh said and laughed at the reminder of how many times Draal had unintentionally egged on Blinky’s conspiracy theories over the years out of sheer childish curiosity. As a whelp Draal had _loved_ asking question after question - interspersed with frequent bouts of energy and roughhousing, of course. 

Vendel snorted and shook his head. "Indeed. I find with children that unless it is of the _utmost_ secrecy, honesty is the better policy." 

"But then still remains the question of _how_ to explain such a conundrum to a child of his age-" Blinky was starting to chew his nails on two different hands. 

_"Draal was an adult. Got turned into whelp again by magic."_ Aaarrrgghh said simply, propping his head up on the table so he was at eye height with Draal. Draal sniffed and patted his face slowly. 

_"Well I suppose there IS an easy way to say it…"_ Blinky shook his head.

Draal looked between all of them slowly. His face scrunched up. 

_"Are you tricking me?"_ He asked doubtfully. He didn't think they _would._ Vendel could be tricky when he wanted to be but both Blinky and Aaarrrgghh sucked at playing tricks on people. 

_"No, we are not."_ Vendel said, resting a hand on Draal's head gently. _"It's a highly concerning situation and while you appear unharmed, I have no idea how to get you back to your appropriate age… or if it's even possible."_ Vendel looked uncomfortable. _“It’s possible the spell will eventually wear off given enough time but I am uncertain. I’ve never even_ **_heard_ ** _of a spell that reverts trolls back to their younger selves.”_

Draal considered this with all the solemnity of a curious whelp. He didn't even shake off Vendel's hand, since it was heavy and comfortable. 

_"Am I a cool grownup? Do I get to fight Gumm-Gumms? Is this why you all look and smell kinda diff’rent? Am I s’pposed ta know those humans? Why are there humans? One of ‘em had cool armor, and a sword. Am I a warrior? No no, I_ **_gotta_ ** _be a warrior right?"_ He threw up his hands and then froze when he saw the stump of his right arm. _"Did…"_ He sniffed loudly, trying to not get teary again. _"...did I lose my arm in a fight?"_

They were all staring at him funny again and Draal snorted and shook his horns at them angrily. He was getting _really_ tired of adults giving him funny looks. 

_"Well, he certainly is no different than the last time he was a whelp! Full of energy and thrice as many questions!"_ Vendel actually wheezed in laughter as he started walking out of the Heartstone room. "You two, since your shenanigans and schemes _resulted_ in this situation, get to care for him during this… trying time." 

"What?!" Blinky yelped, sounding horrified. Aaarrrgghh chortled next to him and shoved his face at Draal. Draal headbutted him back lightly with a giggle. "We- do you sincerely think we-" 

_"Huh?"_ Draal scrunched up his nose. They were talking about him in English again! He pouted at Aaarrrgghh, who just shrugged. 

"Don't sound so helpless, Blinkous, you helped raise him the first time." Vendel was laughing as he left. "I'll at least spread the word of what has happened so you get fewer questions from the masses. And I have some research to pursue, to see if I can get an idea of when this… _spell_ may wear off." He didn't say 'hopefully' but they all felt the wrong note in his voice. 

"But the _first time_ we had Kan-" Blinky froze as if he was about to say something very bad. Draal just tilted his head curiously. 

Vendel paused and then sighed heavily, as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. “Yes, perhaps some things may be best kept unmentioned for now. But this _is_ a mess of your own makings.” 

Blinky tapped his fingers together nervously and looked at Draal sitting on the table innocently. 

_“You never said, am I a cool grownup?”_

Aaarrrgghh started laughing while Blinky groaned. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen. L i s t e n. If you have a medical professional in your house you l e a r n things about medicine. I solidly believe Jim's a mini nurse in his own right half the time. 
> 
> He'd Especially learn a lot about heat illnesses since his mom's a redhead - redheads are INCR E D I B LY prone to heat illnesses due to genetic reasons. Also heat isn't a joke! You can get very sick from heat and like *yeah* it's a cartoon but you technically,,, CAN'T walk inside a volcano without roasting alive. I'll give them some leeway bcz ~magic~ but I doubt they weren't affected at ALL 
> 
> Also, adrenaline is a helluva drug
> 
> *ahem* anyways medical nerding aside 
> 
> Vendel is SO done with these idiots getting in weird situations. He's going to be even MORE DONE when Blinky promptly turns human. (Yes, that's still on the table)


	3. Jim Has an Internal Breakdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You ever notice how Jim goes running through a volcano thinking his best friends have been eaten and then right after has to deal with the news that one of his biggest enemies basically forcibly enslaved his mother's soul to him for protection? I think about that a lot. Poor Jim's under a lot of stress. 
> 
> Oh, and Draal's cute.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SOME NOTES that this may have some triggering mention of burns and stuff here, if y'all are iffy about that, but they're not too bad! 
> 
> Also, Jim may or may not have a breakdown soon 
> 
> Reminder English is in normal text and trollish is in italic!

As he stepped out of Strickler’s car, Jim was  _ done.  _

Today he had to go running around a  _ volcano,  _ thought his friends had been  _ eaten  _ by said volcano, fought off  _ hoards  _ of volcanic trolls, had one of his best friends turned into a  _ toddler,  _ and was probably suffering from  _ heat exhaustion _ on top of it. He was  _ not  _ having a good night and  _ Strickler  _ had not improved that in the  _ slightest.  _

“What happened?” Toby hissed, arms held out stiffly. Claire kept an eye out on the windows of Jim’s house in case his mother looked out the window. “I thought I was going to be helping bury a body tonight, Jimbo, why’d you let that creep get away?” 

Jim dismissed the armor with a snarl, glaring at the taillights as he watched Strickler drive away. 

“Jim?” Claire set a hand on his shoulder worriedly. 

“I don’t…” He held his hands up to the sides of his head, feeling a headache coming on strong. “I- I can’t deal with this tonight.” His head hurt and was spinning with all the new information and stress he’d had to deal with today and he  _ really  _ didn’t want to risk sneaking into his house and his mom catching him but Toby looked like he was burnt  _ bad  _ and getting redder by the second- “Do- do you guys know if you have anything for burns at your houses? I don’t wanna… with my mom and all-” His voice caught. 

“Lots of allergy meds and some aspirin, but nada.” Toby shrugged weakly. 

“Don’t think so, but we can probably hit the gas station a few blocks away and pool our allowance. It’s open 24/7 and it’s always got medicine stocked, right?” Claire settled an arm around his shoulders gently. “Toby, mind going to your house and grabbing some water bottles and snacks?” She asked tentatively, not sure how he’d feel about her taking charge. Toby didn’t always seem very happy about her being involved in their adventures but Jim didn’t seem in any state to be making a plan of action. 

“Meet you at the gas station!” He gave them a thumbs up, giving Jim worried looks as well. “I’ll snag some ibuprofen too!” Toby hobbled stiffly towards his house. “And probably change my shoes, I think these ones are kind of melted on the bottom and it’s freaking me out.” 

Jim laughed weakly and covered his eyes. He didn’t even protest as Claire steered him down the sidewalk. “Honestly right now? I’ll take some NyQuil, so I can sleep this day off forever.” 

“You wanna talk about it?” Claire said awkwardly. She didn’t know what Strickler had said to Jim in his car but that seemed to be the final breaking point. 

“Not- not out in the open, no.” Jim laughed wheezingly. “Let’s just… grab supplies and head back to Trollmarket, okay? We can pretend we’re still on that ‘camping trip’ and just… I dunno, camp in Blinky’s library or something. I doubt he’ll mind.” 

Claire agreed and they walked the rest of the way in mostly silence.

* * *

The library was something of a mess when they returned, bags loaded down with junk food, a few  _ healthy  _ snacks at Jim’s insistence, and plenty of water. 

Blinky was mumbling to himself and shuffling through piles of books. Books were scattered everywhere from his random searching. 

“Ah! Master Jim, we weren’t expecting to see you- oh dear, Tobias, are you quite alright?” Blinky put his book down with a frown. He paused to sneeze and they all gave him a brief confused look. 

Toby groaned and plopped down on the nearest flat surface: the floor. “I feel like I’m roasting in my own  _ skin,  _ it’s terrible!” The redness had only gotten  _ worse _ since they’d seen Blinky last. His hands were starting to blister rather nastily. “And the blisters just keep popping up!” 

“Uh- yeah, no, burns from heat exposure can continue to burn long after exposure is done with.” Jim said quietly, sounding more like he was absent mindedly paraphrasing rather than really thinking about what he was saying. “It’s why sunburns can look not so bad and then get worse up to hours later when you’re out of the sun. Probably nothing worse than a light second-degree though, if it’s still hurting.” 

“Is that why I look like I put on too much blush now when it was barely there earlier?” Claire joked tiredly, sitting down next to Toby and sipping on a water bottle. 

“Sunburns?  _ Humans  _ get  _ burnt  _ by the sun?!” Blinky looked astounded at the realization that humans too shared  _ some  _ weakness to the sun’s deadly rays. He sneezed again, an odd sound coming from him. 

“It’s a source of heat, so given enough of it yeah.” Jim gave up on life and laid down on his back next to Toby. 

“It usually takes a lot of sun to burn skin, and it’s usually not that bad.” Claire assured the troll with a small laugh. “But that volcano was  _ hot  _ and I think we all underestimated how bad it would be.” She dug around in her grocery bag and pulled out a tube of burn cream they’d gotten from the store. “Don’t forget, Toby.” 

“Oh thank glorious modern medicine-” Toby sat up with a yelp and scrambled over. “Jimbo, help me take my shirt off, I think it burnt through my freaking clothes and I don’t wanna get this junk on my sleeves.” And even in the coolness of Trollmarket he felt like he was  _ burning up.  _ He’d never gotten this badly burned by  _ anything  _ before! He felt bad now about teasing Jim for standing in front of the fridge shirtless when he got sunburnt. The idea of cold air was heavenly. 

“Jim’s not here, call back in two to three business days.” Jim threw an arm over his face dramatically. 

“Oh that’s a huge mood, dude.” 

“I’ll help, but I draw the line at you taking off your pants.” Claire snorted and Toby possibly turned even redder with a squawk. 

Blinky watched, fascinated, as Claire helped Toby awkwardly peel his two shirts off. Even the cloth just touching the burnt skin as he shucked them off  _ hurt.  _ He mostly just needed cream on his arms and face, exposed skin the worst off. At least the blisters were only on his hands and nowhere else. Probably from digging through so much treasure… 

He flopped onto his back with a groan once they were done. His feet were a little red from running around on stone  _ right next to lava  _ but he just kicked off his shoes and left it at that. Oh bless cold, stone floors… All Claire did was dab a bit of cream on her and Jim’s cheeks where they were slightly red. 

“Oh geez, my hands look like Jim’s  _ back  _ after a sunny day at the public pool.” Toby held his hands up above him with a snort. 

Jim threw his arm back to give him an offended look. “Hey! It’s not my fault my skin burns easy!” Blinky appeared to be taking notes. Claire was giggling. 

“Should wrap those.” Aaarrrgghh shuffled out of a joining room, sniffing Toby’s hands worriedly. Blisters weren’t something trolls ever dealt with and they looked absolutely  _ freaky  _ with the white film of burn cream on top of them. 

“Yeah, probably.” Toby groaned. 

“I have some bandages you could use,” Blinky nearly stood up from his chair before Aaarrrgghh growled and patted his head harshly to squish him back into his seat. “Alright, alright!” Blinky crossed his arms and huffed. “My foot is hardly injured  _ that _ bad.” 

“I get bandages. Hurts to walk on foot, stay off it.” Aaarrrgghh said plainly, sounding frustrated. 

“Have you been a bad patient?” Jim propped himself up on his elbows, faintly amused. 

“It’s not that serious!” Blinky complained. Then he  _ sneezed  _ \- a bizarre thing to see a troll do - and farted at the same time. 

“Eww, that’s not normal.” Toby scrunched up his face at the visible cloud behind Blinky. 

“You okay?” Jim asked in a monotone. He was worried but also very, very resigned to the worst right now. 

“I’m fine!” Blinky threw all three hands up in the air in exasperation. “It’s been happening for hours, I believe I just may have been allergic to something in Gatto’s Keep- what are you staring at?” He blinked at them with a suspicious look. 

All three of the children sat up and stared at him with wide eyes. Jim laid back down a few seconds later. 

“Nope. Not doing it. He’s not dying? So it’s fine. It’s fine! Today has been fine.” 

“Blink, man, uh, look at your hand.” Toby stuttered. 

Aaarrrgghh was at his side in a heartbeat, bandages long forgotten. “Blinky?!” He sniffed him frantically. 

Blinky looked down at his human hand and screamed. 

“GREAT GRUMBLY GRUESOME!” 

There was a yelp from the other room and a yawning tiny Draal stumbled out, looking around warily. 

Claire, Toby, and Aaarrrgghh all looked from the confused whelp Draal to Blinky sneezing and turning into a human bit by bit. Jim stayed on the floor and refused to move. 

“I don’t think you made it out of Gatto quite the same either, Blinky.” Claire covered her face. 

“Oh my gosh oh my gosh am I going to start turning into something too now?!” Toby patted himself down frantically, wincing sharply. “No, wait, all I feel is blisters. Ow.” 

“You weren’t doused in potions like I was  _ or _ spelled by… whatever it was that hit Draal.” Blinky mumbled in between sneezes. “You should be fine, young Tobias- Oh! Oh dear, my pants don’t seem to fit anymore…” 

“I’ll uh… I’ll go see about finding you some clothes.” Claire covered her eyes and got up, shaking her head as she headed out to the market. “And probably Vendel.” 

“It is much appreciated, Lady Claire!” Blinky called after her before sneezing again. “Draal, please,  _ personal space, little gremlin.”  _ Draal made a face but backed away. His curious sniffing was promptly replaced by Aaarrrgghh’s. “Really?” 

“Funny.” Aaarrrgghh chuckled. “Blinky… squishy.” Draal giggled next to him. Which, honestly, was such an odd sound Jim actually decided to join the world of the living briefly. 

“Okay. So while we wait on that, what’s the word on Draal?” Jim figured handling everyone  _ else’s  _ life changing news was easier than handling his own right now. Once Jim started talking he caught Draal’s attention and the whelp shuffled and stumbled over awkwardly to sniff him curiously. 

“He’s somehow been spelled into a whelp, we don’t know how, and we don’t know how to fix it.” Blinky laid facedown on the table, two lonely arms covering his head. “Truly a disaster! He doesn’t even recall his adulthood, zero memory at all past whelphood.” 

Draal’s face was screwed up awkwardly as Blinky talked.  _ “Do you GOTTA use English? It’s hard!”  _

_ “Trollish hard,”  _ Jim joked, which was basically one of the few Trollish phrases he knew off the top of his head. The look on Draal’s face was  _ priceless.  _

_ “Humans can speak Trollish?”  _ Jim regretted his joke as Draal was suddenly up in his face. And still  _ sniffing.  _ It wouldn’t be so much of a problem if whelp Draal weren’t the same size as  _ Toby. “You smell funny… do I know you?”  _

_ “Only know…”  _ Jim forgot the word for ‘little’ and just made a small pinch with his fingers.  _ “Trollish, sorry.”  _

“On-ly no small Ang- Anglish.” Draal laughed and made a pinching motion back. 

“Well that’s ironic.” Jim scooted a bit back. “Okay, it’s getting weird, what’s with the sniffing?” 

“Troll best sense, smell. Whelps, smell very important.” Aaarrrgghh nodded solemnly. 

“And to most adult trolls smell is one of our most important senses still,” Blinky muttered grouchily. “Which is why it is  _ incredibly  _ strange to  _ feel  _ my sense of smell shrink into near nonexistence. How do humans deal with this lack of sensory feedback?!” Blinky  _ yelped  _ loudly. “Oh dear, touch and pain both seem to be much stronger to humans  _ Great Grumbly Gruesome my foot hurts-”  _ Aaarrrgghh patted his back with a concerned whine. 

_ “Still English,”  _ Draal grumbled, choosing to shuffle around and start sniffing Toby. His nose wrinkled up and he tried to lick the burn cream off Toby’s face.  _ “Tasty!”  _

“AHHH no!! Not troll baby slobber! I need that stuff on my poor toasty face!!” Toby threw his hands up and started pushing him away. Draal seemed to think this was some sort of game and pushed back. “Ahhhh your tongue hurts, dude! Sensitive skin right now, sensitive skin!!” 

_ “Stop it.”  _ Aaarrrgghh picked up Draal in one hand and plopped the whelp on his back. 

_ “It tasted good though!”  _ Draal whined. 

_ “It’s human medicine, don’t eat.”  _ Aaarrrgghh rumbled. “Wingman _ is hurt.”  _ This seemed to give Draal pause. 

“So-ree!” He declared five seconds later before jumping off Aaarrrgghh’s back fearlessly. Both the humans yelped before realizing he hit the floor with a loud thunk, but appeared unharmed as he’d rolled into a ball halfway through the air. Draal uncurled and wobbled his way to Toby’s side and shoved his forehead into Toby’s shoulder softly. “So-ree.” 

“Sorry.” Aaarrrgghh said slowly, Draal repeating after him a few times until he pronounced it correctly. Blinky applauded despite looking rather miserable. 

“Aww, it’s okay.” Toby melted instantly. Jim was a bit confused by the little headbutt but Toby had dealt with Aaarrrgghh’s nonverbal ways of saying things plenty. “You didn’t know.” He patted one of Draal’s horns and the whelp beamed. 

_ “When you don’t need th’ med’cine anymore, can I eat it?”  _ He asked, blinking innocently. 

Jim and Aaarrrgghh burst into laughter, Blinky shaking his head resignedly. 

“What’d he say?” Toby looked up at them with a squint.

* * *

Draal couldn’t figure out why all the humans smelled so  _ familiar.  _

Well, Blinky was Blinky, but that was apparently because he got hit by some weird magic like Draal had. Except he turned into a human not a whelp. That sounded like it sucked but at least  _ Blinky  _ still had two hands. Even if Vendel came in and yelled at Blinky a lot in more English it was better than only having one hand. 

No, it was the other humans who were driving Draal’s nose crazy. They smelled like he should  _ know  _ them! 

Draal guessed it had something to do with him being turned into a whelp, but he didn’t know why he could remember their  _ smell  _ but not even their names. It took  _ forever  _ before the Claire human corrected him that ‘Wingman’ was actually Toby. 

At least she could talk to him pretty well. She knew a lot of Trollish. Everyone ended up in laughing fits when Jim tried to talk to Draal, both of them included. They both sounded  _ ridiculous.  _

The humans spent the night in Blinky’s library, talking and looking through books until they went to sleep. Draal felt like he had too much energy left but Aaarrrgghh wrestled with him until he was tired enough to sleep. 

He still couldn’t sleep. 

Draal’s eyes popped open and he stared at the lamps and crystals turned down low. Blinky was propped up against Aaarrrgghh’s side and snoring loudly. The humans were all slumped together in a pile and sleeping soundly. 

He  _ huffed.  _ He had too much energy to sleep! It didn’t matter if he was yawning or if his legs felt heavy, his head was racing! Draal clambered down from Aaarrrgghh’s back and fell off on accident. 

_ “Bushigal.”  _ Draal declared when he sat up from his fall. His arm missing was making him even  _ clumsier  _ than normal! And still nobody had told him why he was missing his arm. He wasn’t freaking out over it anymore but it still made him anxious. 

And it was real annoying too. 

Since his curse didn’t seem like it had woken up anyone Draal looked around for his ever insatiable quest for something to  _ do.  _ Everyone didn’t so much as twitch when he knocked over a stack of books trying to climb a shelf. 

“Hm?” Except one of the humans stirred, Claire, the human who liked talking to him. He guessed she was the only one who wasn’t totally exhausted by everything that had happened tonight. Even Aaarrrgghh was still out cold. 

_ “Shhh, go back t'sleep.”  _ Draal grumbled, barely hanging on to a shelf and then slipping and thunking to the floor with a grunt. 

_ “Draal? What’re you doing?”  _ Claire yawned and shook her head. Her tired slur went away as she woke up more.  _ “I know you’re a troll so you’re more durable, but be careful not to hurt yourself.”  _

_ “I’m fine!”  _ Draal stumbled to his feet and swayed.  _ “I’m very tough!”  _

Claire laughed quietly and left the pile the other humans were in.  _ “I’m sure you are!”  _ She sat down next to him with another yawn.  _ “What are you still doing up? Blinky said troll whelps need as much sleep as human whelps-  _ children.” 

Draal grumbled and yawned, jaw stretching wide.  _ “My head’s buzzin. I can’t sleep!”  _

_ “Buzzing?”  _ Claire drew back.  _ “What do you mean?”  _

_ “Don’t you ever get where your brain’s just buzzin’ with energy even if the rest’f you’s tired and you jus’-”  _ Draal yawned widely again.  _ “Can’t sleep cause your brain’s… I dunno. It’s just buzzin.”  _

Claire looked like she was realizing something big.  _ “Well, I usually don’t unless I’m having a very bad night, but I have a friend who’s like that. Here-”  _ She pulled out one of the blocky things she and the other humans used all the time.  _ “We can watch some stuff until your brain’s busy enough your body can fall asleep.”  _

Draal perked up, tilting his head. Claire grabbed one of the pillows and blankets the humans had borrowed and curled up against a wall with them. He laid down next to her and watched as her little block lit up and started doing things. 

_ “That’s so cool!”  _ Draal marveled. 

_ “Yes, but please don’t eat it, it’s expensive.”  _ Claire laughed quietly and then little humans were on the block. 

She explained what a ‘movie’ was to him and started playing it. Even though it was in English and he had a hard time understanding it, it was pretty fun to watch. Something about humans with sticks and magic. 

The English actually worked in his favor. Draal snuggled next to her and watched the tiny screen. His head was so focused on trying to figure out what the humans were saying that he didn’t even notice when his eyes slipped shut and he started to doze. Him and Claire both fell asleep watching Harry Potter before they knew it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heat makes you dizzy and stuff. Also, I've gotten sunburned so bad I got blisters before. It's happened... quite a lot, actually. I'm very pale. Large, very bad sunburns cause itchiness, feelings of tightness, severe agitation and pain when irritated, and can make you overheated. Thank god for cold stone floors indeed. 
> 
> I sometimes wonder if trolls think humans are just immune to the sun entirely or if they realize humans can be damaged by it too. I choose the funny option of Blinky losing his SHIT hearing humans get sunburnt. Especially since Jim's probably super vulnerable to sunburns. Kid's pale enough! 
> 
> STRONG HC THAT TROLLS HAVE BETTER SENSES THAN HUMANS, EXCEPT FOR TOUCH. And human touch is a lot more sensitive. Plus, human pain is a LOT different than troll pain. 
> 
> Draal is entirely built off of me as a child and yes, if you have ADHD and your brain won't stop, it helps to watch something dull/incomprehensible enough to catch your brain's attention only partly. At least for me. (Claire's friend with the same problem is totally Darci)

**Author's Note:**

> ALRIGHTY thank you guys for checking this out!! Do make sure to go stop by my tumblr @weregreatatcrime and check out cute bab draws, send me some asks and lemme know what you think! 
> 
> Have a lovely day!


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